Comments on: NOAA reports detail economic impact of fishinghttp://www.tradeonlytoday.com/2014/04/noaa-reports-detail-economic-impact-fishing/
Soundings OnlineTue, 31 Mar 2015 17:23:47 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1By: Shaun Mossmianohttp://www.tradeonlytoday.com/2014/04/noaa-reports-detail-economic-impact-fishing/#comment-242839
Thu, 01 May 2014 13:31:55 +0000http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/?p=43799#comment-242839The 2012 economic report from NOAA Fisheries and our Department of Commerce uses data referred to as “fatally flawed” by the National Research Council in a 2006 study. IN response, Congress required that NOAA replace the recreational data collection methods by January 1, 2009, a deadline which some members of NOAA have acknowledged before congressional committee which was ignored.

“It is correct that we have a 2009 deadline that we did not entirely meet,” said Sam Rauch in 2013. In that same congressional hearing, NOAA scientist Richard Merrick went on to explain how “Phone surveys don’t work anymore,” yet the agency has readily acknowledged that random dialing of coastal phone books was still the method (in 2014) for surveying recreational anglers for effort, participation and harvest.

So this 2012 socioeconomic report by NOAA Fisheries and the Department of Commerce, it shows that JOBS in the recreational sector, along with annual INCOME and SALES, had grown in 2011 when compared to 2010. At the same time, the report shows that TOTAL TRIPS in the recreational sector had gone down!

So this is a ‘TRADES’ website, right? Some of you folks reading this are in the marine-related business, so you’ll appreciate this I’m sure. Our federal unemployment rate increased from 5.1% to 9.1% between 2008 to 2011, yet our Department of Commerce says job growth in the recreational fishing sector climbed 18% during the same period! Considering that total recreational trips are falling each year, the obvious question of course is how is this possible?

The answer is, it’s NOT! I’m sure it gives some folks some sense of optimism and pride to think that our federal government is calling recreational fishing a ‘growth industry’ but it’s simply not true – any junior high student taking his first economics course would tell you how laughable such a report is.

NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Department of Commerce should be ashamed of themselves – not just for originally issuing this report back in 2012, but for re-circulating it 2 years later for some type of ideological marketing campaign.